-MRTC will be a thing of the past. Adding more F on 738's and MD-80's
-More Asia service as announced yesterday
-More DFW ops as previously announced
-Cancelling the remaining 18 ERJ-145 deliveries after July 05
-Removing 15 narrow-body aircraft (not bringing back as many TWMD-80's as previoulsy announced)

Looks like MRTC is gone on international flights. A thread about 7-10 days ago stated DL would be increasing seat pitch. Does anyone have info about the DL MRTC?I am shocked AA is adding seats back on international flights.

A third quarter loss of $214 million is terrible. So much for all those "AA's is such good shape" people, what a load of crap that was. The third quarter should be the strongest quarter for airlines, just goes to show that the majors are in more trouble than we thought. CO's in MUCH better shape than AA is, something that many would've disagreed with 6 months ago. It's also sad to see MRTC going, but they needed to increase revenue, and this will do it. Very interesting results.

You and me both, Astrojet! I thought they'd at least keep MRTC on the 763s and 772s. That means 14 seats will be added to the 767-300 and 18 to the 777-200. I know they're decreasing the number of seats in Business Class on the 767-300 once the new lie-flat seats are introduced, from 30 to 22, and one flight attendant will be removed from B/C, staffed with 3 F/As as opposed to the current 4. When this is implemented, I haven't heard.

Considering how bad AA got slammed by fuel costs, up over $300 million from the same quarter a years, and the fact that yields have decreased is the reason why. That alone makes the difference right there.

Unfortunetely, they got blind-sided by the whole fuel issue. The fact that most costs have decreased from a year ago is positive, it just seems like none of the airline can catch a break here. Just when they think they are making progress, there's always some other crisis.

Well, I will cash in my miles earned on AA and go back to flying carriers that offer superior and more convenient service from my home airports (JetBlue, IAir, and even UA for long haul travel). In the past year, I made nearly 30 business related trips almost exclusively on AA and only because of their MRTC product. At an average of $ 750 per R/T ticket, that was a lot of revenue for the airline.

"MRTC will be a thing of the past. Adding more F on 738's and MD-80's"

The press release says first class will be expanded by two seats on the MD-80s. It says nothing about the 737s.

Also, the release says "American will add back a portion of the coach seats previously removed..." What does a "portion" mean? It further says only one of the two removed rows will be added to 737s and MD-80s. Does that mean 767s and 777s will get all removed seats added back?

I usually work Coach on the 767-300, so with 2 more rows of seats, we'll have 196 or 197 seats, depending on the configuration. Yikes! Maybe I'll have to venture into working Business Class. Time to get out my serving jacket with the strange herringbone pattern.

The end of MRTC. Well thats a shame.
Now I am going to have to look for alternatives.

I know United has a premium economy service. I have several thousand miles already on a BMI diamond club card (star alliance). Hopefully a couple of LHR-LAX returns will supply enough miles to earn default entry into premium economy on UA for trips to the USA.

These LAX flights would definitely have been with AA on flights AA135 and 137, but I have to show AA where to stick it if they want to give me standard seat pitch for my loyalty.

The interesting thing about these numbers is how close they are to profitability. With revenue of $14.1 billion they only lost $211 million or 1.5%.

Another interesting point, there revenue per available seat mile was 8.62, while there cost per available seat mile was 9.68 for the quarter. Since they only fill 77.9% of the seats, they need to raise their prices by 1.36 per mile (9.68-8.62)/.779 =1.36 or

$21.25 for DFW - BOS each way
$64.91 for DFW - LGW each way
$33.67 for JFK - LAX each way

I know there has been a number of attempts to raise prices but one carrier typically refuses to go along. It seems that price increase I have detailed are really very modest.

"$21.25 for DFW - BOS each way
$64.91 for DFW - LGW each way
$33.67 for JFK - LAX each way

I know there has been a number of attempts to raise prices but one carrier typically refuses to go along. It seems that price increase I have detailed are really very modest."

The price increases outlined above are very high. I was just at an aviation conference where Northwest presented a study on the impact of a simple $10 price increase. It was determined this would lose money because all it takes is about 2% of people to decide not to fly as a result of the increase and it works out that the increase was not worth it (does not make up for those who declined to fly). It's more complex than that but hopefully you get the point.